Milk

I think Raughley has signed his first sign-  Milk!

It could be just waving

but i don't think so!

he's so proud of himself!

eating grapes

so happy at the broken egg!

...

so I don't know how it happened, but my cute counter at the bottom of the screen rebooted itself.  I was so proud of the 5000 hits my blog had gotten (probably 4500 of them are from me).  It had quit showing up at the bottom of the screen, which I thought was due to slow internet, but once it reappeared, it showed....

0.

So Im starting all over... not that its a big deal, but I loved seeing a new character show up as each number place value changed.  I was halfway to the 5th place value!

Anyway, here's what we've been up to lately... Playing with big brother,

And new favorite stuffed animal... big bunny.

Sunday we head off to Boca for a week- I'm so excited about seeing Howard and Emily, catching some sun, relaxing, strolling Raughley through town, taking him to the playground, seeing Aaron and Emily, Nicole and Charlie and their babies, and just having an all around great time in South Florida.  

Rooftop Party

Lindsay's Engagement Party was last Saturday night, at the rooftop of the Redmont Hotel.  I had never been up there before, and it was very cool.  The hotel lobby has this 20's feel to it, but the roof is very modern and cozy.  Luckily they had tents to cover the walls, as the temp dropped and the wind was pretty intense that night.  I didn't get too many pictures, but here is a cute one of Linds and her two moh's, me and her sister in law to be, Meagan.

Up next for Lindsay- bachelorette party in Austin, TX!

little man's best friend

Bryant has transitioned from jealous dog of the family (eating pacifiers, diapers, howling at visitors) to protective, patient older brother.  This is what he endures all day long.

And oh how Raughley loves him!

He thinks he is so funny!  He loves to wrestle with him on the floor, pull his ears, yank his collar, and Bryant just takes it.

Of course their are benefits to being a baby's older brother, like licking leftovers off of baby's face.

Oh it's a hard life for this old hound dog.  

When the weather turns nice...

We get to play outside!!!

It's 3 am I must be lonely

Every night between the hours of 7 and 9 we lay little Raughley down to sleep, he cries for a few minutes, and then nods off into dream land...Chase and I settle down for the night a few hours later.

And then between the wonderful hours of 1 and 2 it happens.

Somewhere in whatever weird dream I am having that night, I hear muffled cries and whines... is it part of my dream?  NO

I jump out of bed only to realize it is Raughley, waking up once more in the middle of the night.  I go into his room, and he is standing up, big fat elephant tears rolling down his cheeks.  So we go through the list- paci- check.  Clean diaper- check.  Surely he's not hungry?  So I pick him up and rock him and Voila- right back to sleep.  Gently, I lay him back down and he screams- not crying- screaming bloody murder.  I go lay down and listen to him cry, hoping he will get tired and fall back asleep on his own, but eventually the crying gets to me and I put him in the bed with me and Chase.  Instant sleep for Raughley.

I am out of answers as to how to fix this problem.  Last night he cried for 45 minutes before we gave up. Any suggestions?  Im open to any.  Can you ferberize in the middle of the night?  I don't think he's teething because of the way he stops crying the instant I touch him.  I know he's not hungry because when that little man wants food, nothing else will satisfy him.

Other than the lack of sleep- things are wonderful around here.  Raughley is the cutest happiest baby for 23 hours of the day- talking, playing, singing, smiling, hugging, kissing, searching for the remote...Here is the evidence to prove it!

Typical Male

Best Friends

Someone loves to explore new things

This activity has become a regular favorite

Silly!

happy birthday Brother!

Last Saturday was William's 23rd birthday, and because my mom had surgery the week before, I got to have the party at my house! Unfortunately, I was so busy cooking and making sure everything was perfect that I forgot to take pictures.  So you will have to settle for an oldie of little brother...

From a few years back, circa 2006.

2008.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the past few weeks

Just snoozin on a lazy afternoon.

So happy to be crawling around!

Thumbs up!

9 months old!

Raughley turned 9 months yesterday, which means the time since he has born was the same amount of time as I was pregnant, with one exception- this 9 months has FLOWN by and that one dragged on and on.  I can't believe he is so big!  17 pounds, 28 3/4 inches, his head is 17 inches.  He eats 3 bottles and 3 meals a day, and is crawling, pulling up and walking while holding onto someone's fingers. R has two teeth! He says baba, mama, and hey, and hopefully will say dad soon.  The doctor said it is really rare to say mama first, so he must be headed down a brilliant career path of being a linguist of some sort :)  He throws a few tantrums when it is bedtime, he gets his nose wiped, or he has a toy taken away from him- which the doctor says is like the terrible two's hitting really early, hopefully.  It would be nice to get that over with early on.  She gave me some book recommendations on discipline and parenting that I will check out.  Little man is such a joy to be around and is usually happy and content, unless he is going through one of the above situations.  He loves cars, dogs, and remote controls.  Lately, he has been doing this cute grin that we call the "Chen" grin, after our friend Chen, who smiles just like that.

This is a great view of those teeth also!

pulling up, although it looks funny from the angle I took the picture.

I can't wait to see how he changes again in the next month, it seems like each day brings exciting new experiences for him.  Chase and I sure are loving this little guy!

BCS National Championship

Finally, pics from the day of the game.  I think they are self explanatory, so Ill leave it at that.  All I'll say is that it is surreal to be in that stadium- such a historical building.  Very cool- and great that we won- it was touchy there for a while... Roll Tide- 13!

Leaving the hotel to head to Pasadena

En Route

Where there!

Gorgeous roses

Who knew Santa would be here

We got stuck behind the barricade waiting for the team to drive in, so we just entered the stadium 2 hours early.

Warming up

I got to walk all the way up to see them, I love these guys!

In our seats

The Rose Bowl

Okay the man in the suit behind the guy in the bright blue button down, is Rick Nuehiesel, UCLA's coach.  His family was watching the game, and his son had on, thats right, a Bama sweatshirt.

The fam after the game, they were sitting in a different section from us, I just thought this was a cute pic

Yeah Alabama!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

And the victim of a long night of partying, and a 4:45 wake up call followed by a 7 am flight and 8 hours of traveling.  It was worth it though!

Cali Day 2

Day two began with an early morning breakfast on the roof of the hotel. Our hotel is called a "boutique" hotel, which means it had only 4 floors and about 50 rooms at most.  The concierges all wore pin stripe suits, which mom thought made them look like extras out of beetle juice.  Our favorite concierge was named Ari, and mom was so appreciative of him and our limo driver that she bought them both books about Alabama football as a thank you.  How about that Southern hospitality.  Hopefully some of the residents of LA found the Southerners who invaded their fair city to be charming and polite, although I'm sure they got their fair share of rednecks from both states.  Likewise, we found 99% of Los Angelites to be nice and welcoming, except for the jerk on the street who told us to go back to our cotton picking and grits eating and that he hoped Texas won- since they obviously don't have cotton or grits in Texas.  Some people are just unhappy down to their core and there's nothing they can do to change that.  Oh well.

View from the roof

Rooftop eating area, where they had a raised garden to die for.

After breakfast, Chase and I went on a walk while the Morris' got ready.  We headed up the hill to Sunset Blvd, to find the Viper Room,  and walk down the strip.  I think we walked about 5 miles over the course of an hour and a half, only to end up on Hollywood Blvd to meet the fam for a little touristy stuff.  How funny that once we arrived at the Chinese Theatre, who should we see but my parents close friends, the Barsteins!

Whiskey a go-go, another famous night club.  This was the "Rock n Roll" section of the strip

View of the Strip

Interesting Diner

Chateau Marmont

Beginning of the walk of fame... Vera Ellen from White Christmas

Of course, the incomparable, Julie Andrews

In honor of the little man

Never could find his star, or his footprints, although Donald Duck had both!

Roosevelt Hotel, where the movie Bobby takes place, or more importantly, where Bobby Kennedy was shot.

Chinese Theatre, what I didn't know is that there is also an Egyptian Theatre, and Sid Grauman was going to build some more "themed" theatres as well.

Kodak, home of the Oscars

I took this pic bc you can see the hollywood sign in the background- can you find it?

Hooray for Hollywood

John Wayne

family pic

The Barsteins and the Morris'!

Harry Potter!

Once we discovered that an In and Out Burger lay close to the theatre, we headed their for a quick bite before driving to Santa Monica for the remainder of the day.  Santa Monica is one of the many coastal towns that lies outside of LA, and we loved a chance to slow down and see the Pacific and watch the sun set.  We found a bar called Lobster with all glass windows to view the sun, where we ran into mom and dad's friends the Dailys.  Then we cruised down the street to Blue Plate Oysterette where we met Emily Ross and Cameron, Chase's cousins, and their friend Marty, for dinner.  What a nice reunion that was.

Yum! (although not as good as Milo's in my opinion)

Beverly Wilshire, home of Pretty Woman, and adjacent to Rodeo Drive

Cool!, Especially since we drove most of Route 66 back in the day in Papa's RV

Old woman rollerblading, she's doing pretty good?

We stopped for a "brew dog" as my brothers say.

Pacific Ocean

Love the mountains in the background!

View of the Sunset at Lobster

Dinner with the fam! So great to get together!

After dinner we headed to a bar called South where their was a Alabama party taking place full swing.  it was so busy that we finally gave up waiting to get in and headed to a place called- well now I can't remember- powder?  for a few drinks before calling it quits.  We had to leave prematurely however because the bouncer kicked us out for something we didn't do- which I wont go into.  It ended up being funny and we laughed about it in the car on the drive home.  William, Chase and I hit the hay while Pman and his friends went back out- William said he needed sleep for the biggest day of his life tomorrow- the day he was born for.  More on that day later..... for now, enjoy the pics!

P, Cristina, and Mase

Hanging out, pre getting kicked out!

Fun time!